Dragonfly

The instant I had the camera steady and focused, index finger on the button, it darted away again. I watched it move restlessly from one leaf to another, barely stopping. There were four or five of them - dragonflies or damselflies, I can never tell the difference - and none were willing to pose for me. They were a test of both my patience and the zoom feature on my camera. After pursuing them for a good five minutes, one paused just long enough for me to see, adjust, focus, and snap a picture.

Sometimes it seems like life is just a constant pursuit of a moving target. We are always reaching for something, waiting for something, that is just beyond our grasp. As kids we want to be teenagers. As teens we want to go to college. In college we dream of that perfect career, and/or having a family of our own.

As soon as we reach a goal, we set a new one. It's good to move forward, to reach and strive for something bigger and better. But when will it be time for contentment? Leo Tolstoy wrote a short story called "How Much Land Does a Man Need" about a man who was never content with what he had, but always wanting more, until he lost everything in his pursuit of it. Is that the circle of life - want, build up, acquire, want more, lose it all? That would be so sad!

I don't feel that contentment is the same as saying, "I have more than that person," or "at least I don't have to go through what they are going through." To me, contentment is that moment when you look around and think to yourself, "right now, there is nothing that I need to make me happy."

This doesn't seem to come easy to most people. Overwhelmed by responsibilities and needs and desires, we constantly pursue that moving target without ever stopping to enjoy the feeling of contentment. But if we stop darting about in our pursuits, and let time stand still for just a few moments to enjoy where we are, doesn't that make it all worthwhile?